Today’s Friday Five focus is Vila Gingerich, author of children’s short stories, novels, and creative nonfiction/personal essays.

Vila Gingerich grew up in Mennonite communities across the Midwest. She spent seven years doing volunteer work in Romania and now lives on fifty acres in Missouri with her husband, cats, and an overgrown veggie garden. She was a winner of the 2014 Highlights for Children fiction contest and her work has been published in Highlights for Children and Purpose magazines. Vila teaches sixth through eighth grades in a private Mennonite school. She tells her students that everyone has a special talent, good books take you places, and sometimes it’s okay to add on your fingers.

Growing Toward the Sun follows Celeste, a ten-year-old wannabe detective whose giant imagination often gets her in trouble. When a thief targets her Mennonite community, her desire to solve the case clashes with the beliefs of her peace-loving people and with her promise to behave more responsibly.

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1. Why do you write in the genre you listed above?

Growing up, I seldom got to read books about Plain kids like me. As an adult, I determined to do my part to change that for young Amish and Mennonite readers. Today I write for my old self, as well as for my nephews, nieces, and students. I know my audience but I also know their parents, and the guidelines they set for their child’s reading material. Somewhere along the way I realized I also want to reach readers outside my target audience, and I hope my coming-of-age tale will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

2. Thinking about the stuff you’ve written, who’s your favorite character and why?

Celeste is me so I love her, faults and all. I also love the real people I write about in my personal essays, especially the Romanians I learned to know during my time in their wonderful country.

3. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?

I’m awful at starting scenes much too early, meandering into the action at a snail’s speed. Since I am incapable of realizing this myself, I enlist the aid of honest, smart people to point it out to me.

4. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Time travel. Duh. Victorian England. America before Europeans arrived. Egypt of the Pharaohs. Biblical Jerusalem. Incan civilizations.

5. What literary character are you most like and why?

I always wanted to be Jo March, but I’ve given up on that one. I’m not nearly tomboyish enough. So I’ll go with Emily of New Moon. Teacher, writer, reader, lover of cats, holder of grudges, lover of sunshine and shadows.

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Growing Toward the Sun is currently available through Amazon.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is CJ Anderson, author of young adult sci-fi/fantasy novels.

CJ Anderson is a teacher and author who has a slightly obsessed curiosity for the fantastical. When she isn’t assiduously performing these roles, switching back-and-forth whilst balanced precariously on the back of a Nimbus 2000, you can find her on alien worlds stalking hot demigods, nephilim, and elves from the cockpit of an X-wing. CJ and her husband, Superman, live northwest of District 12 with their superhero children and their cat-dragons.

Awakened, book 1 of her Gods and Guardians series, is non-stop action and romance with a syfy twist! Hair raising, skin prickling, and explainable is the only way to describe the connection Alaya and Dru experience when they first see each other. As Alayna is drawn into Dru’s world, she learns of the Guardians—others like her who have special abilities, whose genetics can be traced back to the Gods. . .except both the Gods and the Guardians are actually extraterrestrials, and . . . THEY AREN’T THE ONLY ONES WHO HAVE FOUND THEIR WAY TO EARTH. “Aliens? Yep, they exist. LOTS of them. Bad ones, good ones … I’ve now seen two bad ones up-close-and-personal; and as for the good ones, well, I’ve met three. No, wait – FOUR, if you count me, because I.AM.PART.FRAKKING.ALIEN!”

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1. What genre do you currently read most and why?

I mostly read YA science fiction and fantasy. I love the not-everyday-life situations in this genre and the thought provoking concepts and possibilities that pop-up in these books. The books I read usually have a strong character as well and the plot is character driven. I’ve always found it easier to relate to characters in books than to real people. So, I suppose that in a way, I like reading these books because I get to hang out with my “best friends.”

2. Where do your inspiration and ideas for your stories come from?

I’ll just be going about my day and all of the sudden a “what if” question or idea will pop into my head. I also teach at the elementary level and often times my students will share their “what if” ideas. I don’t remember exactly when this particular insight occurred, but it was a merger of “what if instead of ‘science fiction becomes reality’, it is ‘reality becomes science fiction?’” I was teaching Greek Mythology at the time and I shared this idea with one of my 5th grade classes. This led to a whole conversation about the TV show “Ancient Aliens” currently on H2, which I had not yet seen. I started watching the series and my plot grew from there.

3. What are some of your favorite words and why?

nyctophilia – (n.) love of darkness or night. Finding relaxation or comfort in the darkness.

I’ve always been a night owl and when I discovered the word nyctophilia I though, wow, that’s totally me!

collywobbles – (n.) butterflies in stomach.

I mean, this one is just fun to say!

4. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

Well … I do write SciFi so I’ve researched some very bizarre things. To me, they are ordinary because I think about these types of things all the time, but I did feel a bit awkward researching Zero Point Energy (ZPE) and weapons. I mean, you never know who is out there watching your Google searches, and if they don’t know I’m an author …

5. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why? What was the best thing about that job and why?

Years and years ago I worked in a warehouse where returns were delivered from all the Walmart locations across the U.S. Being a creative, this was torture for me. Not to mention, much of the stuff was just thrown out. Not recycled, not repurposed, not sent back to the vendor. Because it was cheaper than any other option, perfectly good merchandise, trashed! if you were like 5 seconds late or had to leave for an emergency it was treated as like the worst thing in the world by management. One night, a lady who had been working in my department was having chest pains and was made to believe if she left for the hospital she would be fired. So, she stayed. When I came in to work the next afternoon, we all found out she had died! That was the absolute worst. The best thing about this job was the bull shit, (and I’ve had other similar jobs – but this was the worst). In all cases, the bull shit is what motivated me to keep trudging through life until I met my goals, first becoming a teacher and later a writer. Without all the BS I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I want to encourage my students and readers to think for themselves, to question everything, and above all things, always do the right thing EVEN if it breaks a rule!

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Awakened is currently available through Amazon.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Bartenn Mills, author of cozy thriller and mystery short stories and novels.

Bartenn Mills was born and raised in the upper Mid-west but after moving north, south, east and west she settled in a small Iowa town where she raised a family without bloodshed and currently works full-time at a respectable job, certainly nothing that would suggest a life of fictional crime. Along the way she gathered a few contest awards and published several short stories and poems. Her debut novel, Bishop to Queen’s Knight, was closely followed by Bishop Bewitched. Her most recent novel, Vanilla Lies, is set in 1985 when computers were young and murder wasn’t so innocent. In the wee hours of the morning you can find her solving imaginary murders.

There are too many men in Jane Vanilla’s life —
One wants her love.
One wants her money.
One wants her dead.

Jane unwittingly has the only copy of a tell-all memoir. Everyone who’s read the book has died. As the circle of corpses close in on her, Jane needs to get her head out of the clouds before her feet get planted six feet underground.

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1. What literary character are you most like and why?

Probably Pollyanna, as I always see a silver lining.

2. What are three things on your bucket list?

My bucket list is pretty complete. I try not to let the things I want to do get pushed into a tomorrow that may never come. But if my family was to pick three things I would like to do they would be go to Disney, go to Disney, go to Disney, even though I’ve been several times.

3. What’s your current writing project and what are your writing plans for the near future?

Currently I am working on Bishop’s Ghost, the third book in the Garfield Falls series, where Detective Bishop solves his first case. I’ve had several short stories accepted into anthologies and I would like to make them available as a single collection.

4. Why should people read YOUR stuff? Who’s your target audience and why?

If you like a fast thrilling story that doesn’t forget to develop the characters I think that you’ll enjoy my books. If you know who Cannon, Kojak and Magnum PI are you are my target audience.

5. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?

Everything and nothing. I’ve never killed anyone, I don’t know any police officers. I have met a witch. But I can relate to many of the emotions that my characters go through — love, hate, fear, longing.

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Vanilla Lies is currently available through Amazon.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Shakyra Dunn, author of fantasy and young adult short stories, novellas, and novels.

Shakyra Dunn can’t stray away from the impression that there is always an adventure around every corner! When she isn’t playing the role of the Creator, she is marching through the worlds of her favorite video game characters or taking drives around her city to see the sights. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she currently resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, striving to experience more than the little town.

In her latest, First Words: Final Lesson, a recently-crowned princess with a thirst for magic accidentally destroys her home. A simple youthful rebellion grows into a lifelong friendship. A young woman meets reliable allies. And a young boy is dealt a harsh hand when he sets out to make his own path. Four tales, four parties, all intertwined to set the stage for a bigger event. The sense of adventure builds as lessons prepare to be learned, building the bridge for their first words to be spoken.

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1. Why do you write in the genres you listed above?

Fantasy has been my own personal reality for as long as I can remember. I grew up playing a lot of story-driven video games as well as reading many books in the genre, and it weaseled its own way into my life from the moment I held a controller.

Fantasy opens so many different opportunities for crafting your own private world, and it unleashes so many possibilities. I couldn’t see myself becoming ensnared in any other genre as wholesomely as I stuck myself into this one. As for young adult, I like to show the darker side of growing up, discovering yourself, your potentials, and it blends well into different universes from the one that we know!

2. If you could pick just one book to read for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Just one? Oh wow, um, I may have to say right now, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Can’t go wrong with Hunter S. Thompson.

3. What do you want your readers to take away from your works?

I want them to be inspired to follow their dreams. I’ve had a rather troubling past myself, and stepping into the field of writing was one of the most stressful and amazing things that I could have ever done for myself. My characters share their experiences with others, and they continue pushing forward to reach their goals.

It’s never bad to keep reaching.

4. What do you want your tombstone to say?

Ooh! This is a REALLY good one!

“Beyond the grave, magic will always flow. Keep your eyes open for pixie dust and wisps of wonder.”

5. What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, that you think they need to know?

Just because it’s fantasy doesn’t meant that you need to go insane with the possibilities. Have rules in your world. Know your limitations. Make sure that your CHARACTERS have limitations, or they’re going to be perfect, and perfect is boring.

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First Words: Final Lesson is currently available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Karen Carr, author of children’s and mystery short stories, novellas, novels, poetry.

She’s a retired grandmother from North Iowa. Her grandchildren have provided lots of ideas for her children’s books. Now that she is retired, she likes to spend her time traveling to visit her children and grandchildren, and hopefully to go to author events while she is doing it. She is currently working on an 1860 historical novel centered in the Wild West.

Her recent book is Mystery at Burr Oak: A Dog Named Wang. Wang is a hero when he solves the mystery in the story. She wrote this story to honor her mother, as she had a dog named Wang.

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1. What was your attitude towards reading when you were a kid?

I read all the time. I couldn’t get enough of reading.

2. What genre do you currently read most and why?

I read Mysteries, because I like to see if I can solve them before the end of the book.

3.What are some of your favorite words and why?

Exacerbate. I just like to use it but have not found a place in any of my writing for it, yet.

4. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why?

Nurses Aide. I worked the 11 to 7 shift and when I came home then I worked in the field on our family farm. I was always tired.

5. What author has influenced your writing style/subject the most and why?

Janette Oke. I like the style of the Old West and that is what I am patterning my current book on.

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Mystery at Burr Oak: A Dog Named Wang is currently available through Amazon.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Johan Thompson, author of sci-fi, thriller, and mystery novels.

Johan Thompson is a writer by night and manages a law firm by day. He lives with his wife, two boys and two dogs in Johannesburg, South Africa. After studying creative writing, screenwriting and watching every science fiction film created, he decided to draw on his interest and imagination to create his first science fiction novel. The Clone is his third novel.

The Clone is set in modern-day Russia, spanning over a period of twenty years. Olivia Richards, a scientist specializing in reproductive cloning, is lured to Russia by the wealthy Petrov family to further her research. Everyone wants the clone created. The scientist, to advance her theories. The Russian gangster, for supposedly he is the one being cloned. The Russian gangster’s sons, for they know the real reason. The scientist’s husband, for he wants her to be happy.

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1. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

Besides writing this interview on the toilet, just kidding. Some of the weirdest things I researched were, arsenic poisoning, heroin overdose and a marijuana cookie recipe. I think most writers would be in trouble if their internet history were to be discovered by the authorities. Especially those writing horror.

2. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?

When writing an emotional scene, I draw from my own experiences. You have to in order to create an authentic character. With regards to storyline and plot twists, not much… my life, luckily, is not that chaotic.

3. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

To stop time… obviously, especially as a writer. I would also like to read minds, mainly my wife’s.

4. What literary character are you most like and why?

That’s a difficult one. I aspire to be like Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A perfect role model to my kids, unwavering in my beliefs and a true romantic.

5. What’s your current writing project and what are your writing plans for the near future?

I’ve recently completed a sci-fi novel that is set in the not too distant future. Scorched Earth confronts the burning issues of global warming and immigration which divides our nations. I’m also currently working on a time travel novel. The basic premise of the story is that if you could go back in time and prevent a bad experience, would you do it. Sometime from a bad experience, a good experience will flow. So if you prevent the bad experience…

I met my wife of twenty years, because my father died of cancer and my mom installed a new kitchen from his life insurance money. My wife was the kitchen designer. Life is truly stranger than fiction. So the question is, would you go back? I would, in a heartbeat, but I will also go back and give my parents the money for a new kitchen.

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The Clone is currently available through Amazon.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, author of historical fiction novels.

Ms. Dennis-Willingham writes poetry, memoirs, and children’s books and historical novels. Her first book, No Hill for a Stepper, was published in 2011, and The Last Bordello was published in August 2016. A native Texan, Ms. Dennis-Willingham lives in Austin with her husband and a miniature Aussie. She enjoys oil painting, boxing, and spending time with her grown children and two grandchildren.

When one of Madam Fannie Porter’s soiled doves is accused of murdering a woman of the Temperance Union, nothing will stop her from learning the truth. Set in 1901, The Last Bordello is not only a who-dun-it. It is a reminder that ladies of the night struggled for survival while the suffragettes fought for a better life for all women –Two opposing sides of the same female coin.

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1. What genre do you currently read most and why?

I read most any genre but mostly enjoy a good historical fiction. I love picturing myself and the characters in a world from the past.

2. What do you want your readers to take away from your works?

Emotional engagement with the characters and an appreciation of how they change during the course of the novel.

3. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

To travel back in any time period I feel like visiting.

4. Why should people read YOUR stuff? Who’s your target audience and why?

So I don’t have to beg. I’m not good at begging. Seriously, I like to think my characters are strong enough to either like or hate and the stories themselves will take you to places you’ve never been before. While No Hill for a Stepper appealed equally to both genders, I envision more women reading The Last Bordello. The Moonshine Thicket will appeal to young adults, the young at hearts, and anyone who likes coming-of-age stories.

5. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?

Writing descriptions of places set in the past can be difficult since, obviously, I was never there. To combat this, I rely on old postcards and descriptions in old newspapers.

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The Last Bordello is currently available through Amazon.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Diane Burton, author of sci-fi romance and mystery short stories, novellas, and novels.

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched and Outer Rim series, she is the author of One Red Shoe, a romantic suspense, and the Alex O’Hara PI mystery series. She is also a contributor to two anthologies: Portals, Volume 2 and How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in West Michigan. They have two children and three grandchildren.

In Mission to New Earth, Earth’s overpopulation and dwindling resources force the United Earth Space Agency to ramp up exploration of new planets for a possible new home. As Sara Grenard and her team prepare for launch, are they ready for the one-way trip? Will they be in time?

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1. Why do you write sci-fi romance and mystery?

I love a good mystery, and adventures in space have intrigued me since Star Wars.

2. What was your attitude towards reading when you were a kid?

Loved it. Couldn’t get enough books, and I hoarded the ones I had. I used my babysitting money to buy books instead of make-up,like my girlfriends.

3. Thinking about the stuff you’ve written, who’s your favorite character and why?

Jessie, in my first published novel Switched. She’s quirky, smart alecky, I wish I could come up with her quips in real life. She’s conscious of being overweight (though not that much). She’s insecure yet more capable than she thinks.

4. What literary character are you most like and why?

Jane Eyre: she’s quiet and unassuming, yet caring. I’d rather be Lara Croft.

5. What are three things on your bucket list?

Take an Alaskan cruise
See Scotland/Ireland/Wales, England too
Learn Dutch so I can read about my ancestors

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Mission to New Earth is currently available through Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.

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Today’s Friday Five focus is Jes Sanders, author of sci-fi short stories, novellas, and novels,

Jes had an amazing teacher in 6th Grade: Mr. Giglio (pronounced ‘Jillio’), Mt. Helix Elementary, San Diego. He introduced him to War of the Worlds, The White Mountains, and Taran Wanderer, and inspired him to write. Then life happened. Some decades and a family later, he finds himself in a completely unrelated career. But, as his favorite author, Colum McCann says, “Come song, anyway.” He has stories in him that want to get out, and he is enjoying discovering all this endeavor has to offer.

His latest work, The Last Jubali, is an epic sci-fi tale. World War II has just ended, but it was merely a means to a greater attack.

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1. If you could pick just one book to read for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

If left on an island, I would probably take Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle with me. This book has it all: Great writing, social commentary, science fiction, cynicism, hope, family tension, weird religion. It’s just great!

2. Where do your inspiration and ideas for your stories come from?

For The Last Jubali, the inspiration came from two places. The first seed of the idea was a simple question: What if folklore and folk magic, that every culture has grown up with, was held to be absolutely real – and science was held in great suspicion? What if folk magic was regulated? What if science was either laughed at or persecuted?

The second seed of The Last Jubali came from a mental connection that I made between Dark Matter and Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. What if the link between electromagnetism and gravity could never be solved because there was a fifth force missing form the equation? What if this fifth force resided in a universe next to ours, and dark matter is simple the shadow of this force on our universe? And if somebody, a “psyentist,” were to master this force, they could control gravity as well as electromagnetism.

3. What do you want your tombstone to say?

My tombstone should read, “Well, that was embarrassing.”

4. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?

I really struggle with romantic dialogue. I only have a few characters who are in love. One friend told me that my dialogue read like a romance novel. Ouch! But I am learning how to have my characters speak more naturally.

5. What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, that you think they need to know?

Every now and then, science fiction can rise above genre writing. Genre is a wonderful, beautiful thing. But, yes, even sci-fi can sometimes expand our understanding of the human condition, or contribute to the artistic landscape. I think of A Canticle for Liebowitz, for example. I don’t claim at all to be at this level, but it’s what I aspire to.

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The Last Jubali is currently available through Amazon.

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